Digital Drug Company Proteus Closes Series G Round at $172M, Valuation Over $300M

VentureWire ,

Timothy Hay,

July 29, 2014,

(c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Proteus Digital Health Inc., which is adding ingestible sensors to pills that can communicate with mobile devices, has closed its Series G funding round at $172 million after new investors provided the company with a $52 million second tranche to push to full commercialization, the company said.

Robin Suchan, a company spokeswoman, said the investors in both tranches of Series G funding are undisclosed. But the round, she said, came from institutional funds based in the U.S., Asia and Europe. The second tranche was provided by new investors, she added.

Redwood City, Calif.-based Proteus, which aims to be the world's first "digital medicine" provider, has raised more than $300 million altogether, and has a post-money valuation above $300 million. Ms. Suchan declined to give further information about the company's funding.

Present on the company's board of directors are investors from Physics Ventures, hedge fund Katana Capital and Frazier Healthcare Ventures, its website said.

Proteus is one of a handful of startups applying new technologies to the area of medication-compliance, or using prescribed drugs only as directed by a doctor. Skipping doses, taking expired drugs and lagging between refills have been linked to health complications that cost the country's health-care system millions of dollars per year.

The company has developed sensors made of magnesium and copper that are so small they can be imbedded in pills. Once inside the body, the sensor emits a signal that can be read by a small, disposable patch, Ms. Suchan said.

The patch, which is Bluetooth-enabled, relays the signal to an application on a mobile phone or tablet computer, where it is converted into information. The sensors can provide data not just on whether or not a person has taken a medication at the proper time and at the proper dosage, but additional information about heart rate, body temperature, activity and other metrics, company materials said.

Proteus is working with Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and Novartis to bring the world's first sensor-imbedded pills to market. Ms. Suchan declined to give detailed information about those efforts.

Ms. Suchan said the company expects its Series G round to see Proteus through to more full commercialization. The company currently has no plan to go public, she added.

Other companies with products to help people take medicines properly include Mango Health Inc., which recently raised $5.25 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers for its enterprise platform that improves medication compliance via an enterprise mobile platform, VentureWire records show.